Quandary
by LZClotho
Summary: summary: AU. Emma meets Regina in a convenience store, lifts her wallet and then faces inner turmoil...and deep brown eyes. Thanks to helenastacie, this meet-cute idea struck me…


**summary:** AU. Emma meets Regina in a convenience store, lifts her wallet and then faces inner turmoil...and deep brown eyes.

 **Author's note:** thanks to helenastacie, this meet-cute idea struck me…

Quandary

Emma Swan had come into the store intending to shoplift. She was hungry, and the quick pick-me-up of a nut bar or one of the other small prepackaged foods could really hit the spot. She heard the front door jingle and looked up across the aisles. She was wary, just in case she'd been made and the clerk she thought had been reconciling the gas receipts for the last ten minutes, had actually called the cops.

But it wasn't a cop. Emma's eyes riveted just the same on the woman with the short brunette mop and cocoa skin. Briefly she was reminded of Lily and the pang in her chest was real pain. She swallowed down the regret but her gaze continued to trail the woman around the store.

Emma circulated down another aisle when she realized she had been frozen in place for too long and a guy pushed around her to get into the beer case. She randomly picked up something and sniffed it.

"Car wipes don't come in scents."

Emma's gaze snapped up and she was face-to-face with the brunette. Closer now, she could tell the woman was Latina, with full lips, eyes the color of caramel, and smooth satin skin over defined cheekbones.

"Uh, yeah," Emma stuttered. "Excuse me." She saw the brunette's eyes narrow as she passed. They bumped; instinct made Emma lift a wallet from the coat side pocket. "Sorry," she said under her breath.

She hurried around the end of the aisle before glancing back. The brunette had shaken off the encounter, forgetting entirely about Emma as she picked up an item from the shelf – apparently exactly what she had been looking for, and moved quickly toward the register.

Emma froze, a war blasting away inside herself: _You're a horrible person, Emma Swan. She's going to look for her wallet, find nothing, and know you took it_.

Another part of her suggested, _say you found it on the floor, run up to her, be a hero. Be *her* hero_.

Emma looked down at the wallet in her hands and dropped it on the floor. She bent over, shuffled with it down the aisle, kicking it front of her feet as if getting in her own way trying to pick it up.

Her progress brought her closer and closer to the register. A small clot of customers was there, the brunette third in line. A second register opened up and Emma and the brunette both heard, "I'll take the next customer over here."

Emma jerked forward; the brunette moved to the new line and Emma watched her put down the items to buy and begin searching in her pockets for her wallet.

"Hey, um, I…think you dropped…" The brunette's gaze snapped to Emma as she sputtered out her words. Lost in caramel swirls, Emma stopped trying to speak and held the wallet up, wiggling it toward the aisles. "Back there. I…I saw it after you walked away."

Long, narrow fingers reached for the wallet in her hand, but the eyes never left Emma's face.

"Emma," she said, wanting, insanely to somehow engage with this woman.

"Regina," the brunette said brusquely. The wallet was pulled from her fingers, and Emma deflated. Quickly cash was pulled from the folds and passed to the clerk. Then brown eyes found her again. "Thank you."

Emma's heart thudded, pulsing with the words ricocheting across her nerves. She pulled her lips into a too-sharp smile. "I, yeah, um, thank you."

Dark brows narrowed, expression confused. A quick smile took the tension away. "Okay."

Without conscious thought, Emma followed the brunette out of the store as she hefted her small bag of purchased items. When the brunette walked toward the sidewalk instead of one of the cars, Emma moved with her.

In a voice Emma was sure she wouldn't soon forget the brunette suddenly asked, "Are you following me?"

Emma stopped a step further along and looked back. "I could just be going in the same direction."

 _Regina_ – Emma internally sighed at the name – pursed her lips together and her gaze swept Emma head to toe and back up again. Then she hummed. The sound vibrated along Emma's spine; she pursed her own lips to prevent a wanton hum of her own escaping.

When she opened her eyes she found the brunette ten feet away and continuing to walk. Emma's throat closed up as unexpected tears clogged it. "Bye…Regina."

She turned away, no longer able to bear the sight, and confused by her inner turmoil. She had walked only a few steps in the other direction when she was stopped again by that voice. "Goodbye…Emma."

When she turned her head and glanced back over her shoulder, she was caught in a caramel gaze at fifty paces, heart silenced by the full-lipped smile.

Dark hair bobbed and a sharply defined chin dipped in farewell. Emma's heart restarted, matching the steps the woman took, walking away.

Emma's stomach grumbled, hungry still, but she didn't hear it or feel it over the rapid pulsing of hot blood in her face and ears.

###


End file.
